County launches Allegheny Alerts for parks, Kane centers

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced the launch of Allegheny Alerts. The free, non-emergency notification service allows individuals to sign up to receive information from the county on topics that they choose in a variety of formats.

Users can sign up for alerts from the parks department and the Kane Regional Centers immediately, but additional departments will be added moving forward.

“Since I took office, we have made a real effort to make the County and its services and offerings more ‘customer friendly’ for our residents and visitors,” said County Executive Fitzgerald. “Our goal is to provide information that can help you better plan your workdays, weekends, holidays and outings. This is also accessible on smart phones and, yes, there’s an app for it too.”

“Whether it’s information on if the park pool is open, or an announcement that the Bishop will be offering mass at Kane Scott, we want to provide as much information as we can about what’s going on within the county,” said Council President John DeFazio. “Our goal is to make this as easy as possible, and to let the residents pick and choose what they get.”

In order to receive alerts, people must create a user account by visiting www.alleghenycounty.us/alerts. Users are requested to provide some basic information which will be kept confidential and not used for any other purpose.

Once the account is created, they can choose the topics they want and how they want the information sent (email, text, voice) and where (home, work, cell) they want to receive it. People can change the information and topics at any time by logging into their account and modifying their choices.

“At the Kane Centers, the staff uses bulletin boards, fliers and printed calendars to keep residents and families updated about what’s going on in the facility,” said Council Member John Palmiere, chair of the Health & Human Services Committee. “By using Allegheny Alerts, we can get messages to families immediately, share upcoming dates and events with them so that they can plan around those, and it gives us an opportunity to share what’s going on at the centers with the communities that the Kanes are located in.”

Alerts will be sent periodically and timing depends on the situation. If people choose pool information, they may receive an alert the pool is closed due to inclement weather in the morning of that day, but a notice about opening day could be sent several days or weeks in advance so they can plan accordingly.

Again, people can change the information and topics they receive at any time, along with how and where they receive those alerts.

“We’re really excited about the opportunities that Allegheny Alerts opens up for our users,” said Council Vice President Nick Futules, who is also the chair of the Parks Committee. “There will be notices and reminders of summer concerts at South Park, information on sports programs at Harrison Hills, a reminder to make your reservation for a tea at Hartwood, and so much more. We hope that this is a real convenience to residents and that this makes their participation in events at our parks easier.”

In addition to this announcement, the county will be marketing Allegheny Alerts and encouraging residents to sign up at kiosks located at the North, South and Boyce Park offices, as well as the North Park and South Park golf courses. As facilities such as the swimming pools, ice rinks and ski slopes open for their seasons, there will also be opportunity to sign up for the alerts there.

Development is currently underway to launch alerts for the Health Department, Public Works Department and Human Services Department sometime this summer.